Vanessa Rubin has a lovely voice, but rarely wanders much from the melody. Since many of the songs that she performs on this Novus CD have already been done definitively dozens of times by others (such as "Our Love Is Here to Stay," "My Ship," "Morning," and even "Being Green"), the value of the release is not as high as it should be.
Rubin does contribute new lyrics to
Wayne Shorter's "Speak No Evil" (renamed "All for One"), her singing is heartfelt on "His Eye Is on the Sparrow," and
Steve Turre's four appearances (on trombone and conch shells) are a major asset. But why revive "Black Coffee" (another song that has already been done perfectly) with its self-pitying attitude and dated references to cigarettes? ~ Scott Yanow